Newly refurbished World Duty Free and WH Smith units have opened their doors in George Best Belfast City Airport

The works complete the first phase of an ongoing £15m infrastructure investment aimed at further enhancing the customer experience.

The new, improved retail units now boast 552 square metres of retail space, which is an overall increase of just over 30%, in addition to an increased product range.

Joanne Deighan, Commercial Manager at Belfast City Airport, said:

“Passengers will notice a huge improvement to the Departure Lounge. The new World Duty Free and WH Smith units, which have opened just in time for our passengers flying off on their summer holidays, are bright and spacious with a much greater product offering.

“The walk-through design within World Duty Free allows our passengers to easily see the brands available as they move through the Departure Lounge and into WH Smith which overlooks the front of the airport.

“Over the summer months we expect to welcome approximately 10,000 passengers through the terminal each day so it’s fantastic to provide these customers with a world class travel retail experience that will really enhance the customer journey.

“Later this summer we will complete upgrade works to the security area allowing departing passengers to be processed much more efficiently and towards the end of the year passengers will be able to take advantage of an improved food and beverage offering.”

In addition to popular brands such as Benefit, Elizabeth Arden and Molton Brown, World Duty Free in Belfast City Airport will now for the first time stock a selection of Bare Minerals, Elemis and Smashbox products.

“Seeing this project coming to life has been amazing and we’re excited to show off our fabulous new store to customers.

“The new walkthrough layout will revolutionise the World Duty Free experience for our passengers. The additional space makes for a much more relaxing, personal experience.

“Not only have we enhanced our fragrance and beauty offering, but we also have an increased range of sunglasses with brands such as Michael Kors, Prada and Ralph Lauren, as well as a luxury section featuring items from Pandora and Swarovski.

“It’s great to have the new store open in time for the summer holidays and we look forward to welcoming our passengers to show them around the shop.”

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Ryan O’Hara from WH Smith in Belfast City Airport, commented:

“The new WH Smith store at Belfast City Airport now offers a greater selection of food and beverage items, travel accessories, toiletries, magazines and books.

“We now have much more space dedicated to meal deal items allowing passengers to quickly choose from a wide choice of refreshments. We have also increased our range of mini toiletry items under 100ml which are perfect for travelling, and for the first time have introduced beauty items from Maybelline and Rimmel.

“The new store combines the previous two airside stores within the one unit making it a more seamless experience for passengers. Our team is really excited and we hope our customers will enjoy the new store as much as we do.”

Upon completion towards the end of the year, the Departure Lounge will also feature additional seating space and charging points as well as improved toilet facilities.